AN EASIEST METHOD FOR QUICK SEGREGATION OF STANDARD QUALITY OF NUTMEG KERNAL

 "QUALITY OF MEDICINES DETERMINES QUALITY TREATMENT"

(ABBREVIATIONS: SQ- Standard Quality; SSQ - Sub Standard Quality )

Nutmeg, the dried seeds (kernel) of Myristica fragrans; family- Myrsticaceae, commonly known as Jatiphala (Sanskrit), Jaiphal (Hindi), Jathikkai (Tamil) is an ingredient of the majority of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs. the mature seeds of nutmeg is ellipsoid. 20-30 mm long and about 20 mm broad. It is externally greenish-brown color; sometimes marked with small irregular dark brown patches or minute dark points and lines and slightly furrowed reticulately. it has strong and aromatic odor and pungent and aromatic taste. 

Practically, it is observed that nutmeg has two years of shelf life when stored properly however, the collection and storing of nutmeg procured from the market is uncertain. The procured nutmeg from the market cannot be used as such but it requires quality test approval for its identity, purity, and strength (efficacy) in order to prepare quality drugs for best action on the patients. 

If nutmeg is very old and has piercing marks of invasion of insects or external damage, then, it may be manually segregated. But, it would be very difficult to identify the nutmeg when it looks normal externally but it has microbial and fungal invasion internally. 

Yes ! the nutmeg cannot be identified for its good quality on its physical verifications because when it is procured from the market in bulk, it was seen that all the nutmeg externally gives similar appearances either suitable for medicines or not suitable for medicines due to fungal and microbial attack internally. It is a great challenge to Quality Assurance to select the standard quality of nutmeg to produce quality medicines. The method for detection of foreign matters has been published in various Pharmacopoeias is more or less the same and cannot be applied in the case of nutmeg. 

Nowadays, the world is facing great challenges to get rid of the COVID -19, a Pandemic disease and all medicines manufacturing companies (Traditional System and Modern Medicines) is trying to search antidotes. Many of our Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic Physician is suggesting various supportive and preventive medicines to boost up the immunity power to fight against CORONA (COVID - 19).  

In this situation, the quick clearance of the material from Quality Assurance to in-process the medicines is a very challenging task especially when the material is issued for compound formulations ( a medicines required more than one or many ingredients)

Considering this, I would like to share my practical experiences here, and trust that it will provide help to segregate nutmeg from the lot. I have given the process name as " Sinking and Floating Method". This method is very easy and presently working.

Segregation Method of Nutmeg: 

1. Take a big wide-mouthed clean vessel or container according to the quantity of Nutmeg require for segregations.

2. Fill the vessel with a 3/4 portion of water or above the half container. 

3. Put the Nutmeg in the vessel slowly.

4. Take a clean bamboo or wooden stick and stir two clockwise and to two anti-clock rounds.

5. Lave the vessel exactly for two minutes.

6. Collect the floating nutmeg (B) and Sinking nutmeg (A) separately.

7. Keep both categories (A) & (B) of nutmeg to Sunlight for proper dry. (not over dry otherwise  volatile oil may evaporate) OR keep under hot air dryer for 3 -4 hours at 40-42 degrees Celcius temperature.

8. Again check, if it is not satisfactorily dried, keep it for some more time.  

Observations:

1.  The sunk nutmeg is felt heavier in comparison to floating nutmeg.

2. Nutmegs which were sunken in water, when breaks, showed reddish-brown and white mosaic appearance internally (See  Image 1 - SQ) and has a strong aromatic odor and pungent & aromatic taste.

3. Nutmegs, which were floating (B) on the water, showed blackish - brown or fully  white appearance  (See Image 2 - SSQ) and has comparatively less strong odor and taste than 1 -SQ)

4. Powder of SQ nutmeg showed bright reddish-brown color (Image 3 - SQ)

5. SSQ nutmeg showed a dull greyish brown color (Image 4- SSQ) 

The above observation is quite enough to segregate the nutmeg as SQ and SSQ. Then, The SQ may be taken into Laboratory for its details testing as per standard mentioned in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India or other Pharmacopoeias for estimation of volatile oil and other physicochemical parameters, etc.  [THE SSQ MATERIAL MAY BE DISCARDED AND SENT BACK TO SUPPLIERS AS IT WAS NOT SUITABLE FOR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS]

Image 1 SQ

Image 2 SSQ

Image 3 SQ

Image 4 SSQ

Further, I would like to inform you that the nutmeg segregated as B- SSQ was tested Microbiologically and observed that the majority of nutmeg was shown with the Mucor sp., Aspergillus sp. and Penillin sp. Bacterial colonies also observed. Some of the nutmeg seeds were not found affected with fungal or bacterial growth but entirely destroyed anatomically, may be due to unhealthy storing conditions or storage without proper drying but they also not found suitable for medicines on its efficacy ground. 

 I hope, that the above observation will be helpful for Pharmaceutical industries especially to Quality Assurance, many research Scholar and the AYUSH Physician practicing with their own medicine preparations.

Note: The article is based on the absolute experience of the author who is presently working as a Selection Grade Quality Assurance Manager in Government Organisation.